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Author	Topic: Who Would You Hire?

tesmith719 Minimember	I've often thought about who I would like to work with if I were a movie director. Would I have an all purpose "go to" guy like Zemekis/Silvestri or would I take the opportunity to try to work with different talents. Hence, I thought it would be fun to provide movie scenarios and tell who we would get to do the score, explain why we chose that person, and state who we think "the studio" would likely hire given today's penchant for drivel and sonic wallpaper. I'll start... Oh, by the way...all you Jerry, John, Hans, and Jamie lovers out there...lets try not to pick the same guy for every scenario. We all know Jerry is good and could probably score a monkey farting just as well as a space battle. So think a little. Oh...and if you are having trouble coming up with scenario capsules...try the newspaper. Like they say in The Player, that's where the real stories are.
posted 07-12-2002 08:45 PM PT (US)

tesmith719 Minimember	SCENARIO: A canister of smallpox has been stolen from a top secret government facility and it is up to a hardened FBI agent and a cautious scientist from the Center For Disease Control to get to the bottom of the case and stop would-be terrorists from unleashing their fiendish plans on an unsuspecting San Fransisco. COMPOSER: Danny Elfman REASON: Elfman's maturity in his scoring has given him a sonic pallate that is substantial. His ability to write pulsating and percussive action music coupled with his ability to write interesting, taut suspense music makes him an ideal choice. STUDIO FLUNKY'S CHOICE: Someone from MEDIA VENTURES. Considering this might not be a very good film if done properly...Hans would probably take a bow. But the studio could get Hans-Light... This might just be the opportunity for Gavin Greenway to step out of the shadows and score one for himself. AND AT 1/3 THE COST!!!!
posted 07-12-2002 08:59 PM PT (US)

justin boggan Goldmember	This is really a complex question. Tim Buton and Steven Spielberg have gotten lucky using the same composer allmost all the time. But that would not work all the time. You choose whoever you feel would best score the movie. You can't just pick a composer because you are a fan of his work. Emerse youself in promotional cds. If the movie is a space drama, contact several composers and get scores they feel best reflect what they could do for a space drama. Experiment. Reject a score if necessary, but please make a copy of it for your fellow friends at the boards :-) The topic of the movie does not decide the composer. The type of movie does not decide the composer. Watching the movie, getting a feel for it while directing it, hell even take advice from any star if they are composer fans. But sure as hell never let a studio determine who will score your movie and what type of score it should have. The famous Jade incident where Horner and the director were at suchs huge dissagreements that Horner intentionally wrote a bad score. This should have never happened. Anyone remember Jade? Perhaps you would remember it better if it had had a more memerable score. Remember, the composer knows what he is doing and compared to some directors these days, he is older and wiser, hell, again, he could even make good script changes. You guys have seen some of the crap that comes out.
posted 07-12-2002 09:46 PM PT (US)

tesmith719 Minimember	The reason I came up with this is because I am such a big fan of David Shire's. For my money, he is one of the most versatile composers out there. But what studio flunky in their right mind would allow me to hire Shire for a high profile film? I'd have Zimmer or Horner crammed down my throat in a heart beat. I know that if I were a director, I would allow the composer to have as much freedom to be artistic as he could. That doesn't mean I would just allow the composer to write anything, but if you are working with a person like Williams or Goldsmith, you have to know that these guys KNOW what they are talking about. You can give ideas as to tone and color, but as for using temp tracks...that the easy way out.
posted 07-12-2002 10:01 PM PT (US)

James Goldmember	SCENARIO: A Navy or Air Force officer in WWII is thrown overboard/shot down during a battle and swallowed by a giant fish. Fifty years later he is alive and well inside the fish, living in a community of about 1500 people. When his wife of 40 years dies, he realizes time is short and he plans an escape from the fish to track down the woman he left behind when he was lost at sea. I'd want this project for David Warner in the lead, but the studio would probably push someone more marketable. Then again, what studio executive in their right mind would greenlight a project like this? This would have to be an independent production. COMPOSER: Basil Poledouris REASON: Poledouris is always at the top of his game whenever he's writing for the sea (Free Willy, Hunt for Red October, Wind, etc.), and the grand emotional strokes in which he composes are exactly the type of sound I'd want, both for the truly emotional moments, and to play against the comedy in some of the less serious moments. I envision one scene in which the townspeople catapult the lead's wife's body further into the bowels of the fish to be digested (the typical funeral ceremony in this society); with Basil's delicate scoring, it could easily be both funny and touching at the same time. ---------- SCENARIO 2: A historical fiction film about Edward Drinker Cope and Othniel C. Marsh, two 19th-century American palaeontologists who each scoured the country (or their hired collectors did) racing to find and name more dinosaurs than the other. So great was their rivalry that it lead to duplicate fossil namings (to increase the number of dinosaurs found), heated political and journalistic debates, and even stealing fossils from each other. COMPOSER: Bruce Broughton REASON: He can score anything, and I think his particular breed of Americana (think O Pioneers) is the type of sound I'd want for this project. I have no really clear ideas for the music on this project, but Broughton seems to me like the best composer to "set free" on this project. Kirk NP - Drowning by Numbers (Nyman)
posted 07-12-2002 11:38 PM PT (US)

Ken S Goldmember	<BLOCKQUOTE><font size=1 face=arial>quote:</font><HR size=1>Originally posted by James: SCENARIO: A Navy or Air Force officer in WWII is thrown overboard/shot down during a battle and swallowed by a giant fish. Fifty years later he is alive and well inside the fish, living in a community of about 1500 people. When his wife of 40 years dies, he realizes time is short and he plans an escape from the fish to track down the woman he left behind when he was lost at sea. I'd want this project for David Warner in the lead, but the studio would probably push someone more marketable. Then again, what studio executive in their right mind would greenlight a project like this? This would have to be an independent production. COMPOSER: Basil Poledouris REASON: Poledouris is always at the top of his game whenever he's writing for the sea (Free Willy, Hunt for Red October, Wind, etc.), and the grand emotional strokes in which he composes are exactly the type of sound I'd want, both for the truly emotional moments, and to play against the comedy in some of the less serious moments. I envision one scene in which the townspeople catapult the lead's wife's body further into the bowels of the fish to be digested (the typical funeral ceremony in this society); with Basil's delicate scoring, it could easily be both funny and touching at the same time.<HR size=1></BLOCKQUOTE> WOW, Kirk - that's one of the most ORIGINAL ideas I've ever heard for a movie; I'd definitely want to see this on big screen, although I've never been a fan of Poledouris' work ...Let's get Erik Woods to do an independent production out of this. Although I would like to pull a "Spielberg/Williams collaboration thingy" if I ever get producing my dream movies, there's three composers who would be the perfect choices to underscore every single idea from my head - Alan Silvestri, John Debney, and Bruce Broughton. KEN [Message edited by Ken S on 07-13-2002]
posted 07-13-2002 05:59 AM PT (US)

metaphor123 Minimember	SCENARIO: This is a 'perpetually in development' project of mine. Its a 6-episode television serial. The story opens on a train sliding into frame and a girl stepping off. She has retrograde amnesia and can remember nothing from before she steps off the train. She has arrived in a town where there is a curfew (but noir passes can be bought on the black market). People talk strangely and vaguely. There is a factory on the outskirts of town, billowing industrial waste into the sky. Someone is pursuing her. But who is he? And who are the people she sees in the mirror? Some are dark and silent, but others harass her with vicious fervour.... COMPOSER: Philip Glass. Philip Glass. Philip Glass.
posted 07-13-2002 08:02 AM PT (US)

Lancelot Goldmember	quote: : [B]SCENARIO: A Navy or Air Force officer in WWII is thrown overboard/shot down during a battle and swallowed by a giant fish. Fifty years later he is alive and well inside the fish, living in a community of about 1500 people. When his wife of 40 years dies, he realizes time is short and he plans an escape from the fish to track down the woman he left behind when he was lost at sea. I'd want this project for David Warner in the lead, but the studio would probably push someone more marketable. Then again, what studio executive in their right mind would greenlight a project like this? This would have to be an independent production. B] Geez, this sounds like a job for Michael Kamen if ever there was one. But the scenario sounds very Gilliamesque to me, so I'm probably casting on type. David Warner should probably play the Noah-like mayor of the community, though I'd cast Paul Bettany as the RAF pilot.
posted 07-13-2002 03:15 PM PT (US)

James Goldmember	quote: Originally posted by Lancelot: Geez, this sounds like a job for Michael Kamen if ever there was one. But the scenario sounds very Gilliamesque to me... Very perceptive, Lancelot. I came up with this idea once while watching The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, during the scene inside the fish (obviously). If this were still the 80's, I'd go with you on the Kamen idea. Now I'm just not sure he has the right stuff inside him anymore, though I'll say I would be very curious to find out. And Ken, I've decided that it is impossible for me to predict with any confidence what you would like. I would've thought you'd be a sucker for Poledouris, what with so much of his music being so lush and emotional and rich in melody. But anyways, thanks for the compliment, even though given the Munchausen springboard I don't think my idea is as original as you say it is. But thank you just the same. Kirk NP - Green Dragon (Jeff & Mychael Danna) [Message edited by James on 07-14-2002]
posted 07-14-2002 02:33 AM PT (US)

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